You are one step further in your art and i have to show my admiration for it!! Your shapes and textures are wonderful! But you know that your pencil work is really the one that makes me go insane! :D Wish i could see tones more!!

Cheers!
Icey

Gord-MacDonald

12 December 2006, 12:17 AM

becca - this is a really impressive suite of images. I would love to see them as large prints on a gallery wall. The drawing is totally solid (often just all out beautiful), great command of the lighting, and beautiful rich texures.

You should be very proud of this work!
Congratulations.

Gord

Splinter

12 December 2006, 03:51 AM

Wow post 473 was awesome the eyes you posted there left me in a stunn. I am a beginning artist and your sketchbook is the first that I looked at and I gotta say I need what ever it is your taking to produce that kind of work. (jk)

I can't way to see what else you have up your sleeve.

anandpg

12 December 2006, 07:08 AM

Wow, Rebacca... oh, what do I say!!... absolute museum pieces!!:bounce:

Mu

12 December 2006, 10:17 AM

I think you should definitely do high-quality prints of those and compile them into a little exhibition. If not for a dedicated gallery then for other locations which offer exhibition space.

In my town there are quite a few coffee shops, museum cafés, theatres and other locations which have exhibitions on a regular basis.

The effect of all of those images on canvas put together in convenient lighting in a nice environment should be striking!

I know that I would let my coffee get cold while getting lost in admiring your art...

EDIT: sure your ego's still on the hippie trail? It shouldn't be, you know...:D

vincent1

12 December 2006, 02:12 PM

Hey RebeccaK, I like very much the pen hatching drawing. Reminds me of when I used to dot pictures into existence with a Rotring .001 rapidograph. And hatched landscapes with the Rotring Sketch Pen, the one with the looooong pointed barrel with no clip.

Anyone remember those utensils?

You asked for comments:

Not so keen on the canvas texturing on anatomical paintings. Do not misunderstand me; the paintings are fantastic by themselves and showcases your vast talent. I just think that allegories to traditional practices when using a digital medium serves little in propagating advances in digital painting. Why put in a canvas texture when the medium itself has already progressed beyond that?

Just wondering about your stand on this matter.

Yes, we are in a transitory period and many, many digital artists are going to pay the ultimate price (fading into ignominity and unyielding depths of obscurity) before this digital medium will be commercially excepted as on par with traditional medium. Which to me is putting the cart before the horse and not necessary as the digital medium should not be compared to traditional as it is just totally different with its own unique demands and discipline. Yet such is the finite comprehensional abilities and ignorance of the general public.

I only hope that this acceptance period for the digital medium and like ideas will be much shorter than those that came before it like the airbrush and the understanding of our earth circling the sun expounded by Galileo, etc.

The good news is that I truly believe that this acceptance period (by the general public) will be much shorter by virtue that all recent and current inventions and media have so much shorter periods measured in years and months as opposed to that of Galileo that lasted for centuries... :)

Therverian

12 December 2006, 10:47 AM

I had to go through your thread, seeing as you brought me here :) (thank you)

I am impressed with the majority of your work, some very brilliant pieces.

This last set looks outstanding, the lighting and emotion is caught so well. I am especially stricken by the 3rd image in post 501, for some reason it just jumped off the screen at me :). there was one thing that caught my eye in an odd manner though: post 500 image 3, the nose seemed kind of flat, is that because of the lighting you created?

wonderful work ;)

Rebeccak

12 December 2006, 11:04 PM

Thanks a lot guys for all the replies! They're really appreciated.

Icey, thanks a lot for always encouraging me to do more traditional work - having just come off of all of these digital pieces, I've been in a traditional mood lately. Your work btw is incredibly inspiring, and your pencil sketches are simply awesome. Thanks for the big kick in the butt! :)

Gord, thanks a lot! Yep, these will all actually be printed up and hung in a gallery for my show - you're all invited! Hehe. :)

Splinter, thanks a lot for the encouragement!

anandpg, haha, thank you - it's great to see you on the boards, you're work is definitely an inspiration!

Mu, heya, great to see you here! Thanks for all the kind words, hey, I really hope to see some of your own work soon!

vincent1, heya, thanks for the indepth remarks. Actually, I was less trying to reproduce a canvas / painting look than a photographic look - I really like the look of damaged photographs, and the work of artists like Joel Peter Witkin, whose work is kind of creepily sublime. I frankly think digital and traditional art are separate mediums with their own merits, and neither really needs to satisfy the standards of the other - they're different experiences, and I'm happy accepting them as such.

Therverian, thanks for your comments. I think there are definitely some pieces that are more successful than others, and there are of course numerous changes that I could make to these - but that's the cool bit about digital, I can make any changes at any time, which totally rocks. However there is a certain point too at which you have to stop, which is what make deadlines so useful.

Some traditional sketches, from Ben Miller reference - these first 3 are WIP of the same image:

OOOO, your eye monster is creepy. It is a far cry different to your male studies. Keep up the good work. How's your studies going in school? Nearly finished up?

CyborgJA

12 December 2006, 08:51 AM

I really don't want to be boring but I love all your pencils.

Gisaiagami

12 December 2006, 10:39 AM

love the pencil too
And the shadows, light
owww god
is very nice

Mu

12 December 2006, 01:41 PM

Art-Mistress Kimmel!

Who, when he looketh at your value treatment, misseth colours?

When, in the bowels of time that hath passed, didst thou learn to leave out th'unneccessary trifles?

Why is I not possible speak nono stupid anymore?

:D

coz you rock! :buttrock:

Frejasphere

12 December 2006, 02:02 PM

Hi Rebeccak :)

great to see your updates and the places your work is taking you :) :thumbsup:

cheers and take care

a. :)

Djampa

12 December 2006, 05:35 PM

Wow... I just read ALL this thread right now... *lol* oh my...

So much to learn here...

Thanks for sharing with us.

I found very interesting the topics about Hogarth, I'm 'eating' and 're-eating' his books, so precious...

Best wishes, cya.

snartist

12 December 2006, 04:26 PM

Hi Rebekka, my name is Patrick Miller. I took Chris Palimino's Painter IX class a few months ago. I am relatively new to the computer. Would you please give me specific instructions for uploading my work? Patrick

Rebeccak

12 December 2006, 04:31 PM

Hi Rebekka, my name is Patrick Miller. I took Chris Palimino's Painter IX class a few months ago. I am relatively new to the computer. Would you please give me specific instructions for uploading my work? Patrick
Hi Patrick, you can post your work to the forums using an image host like photobucket or imageshack. Bear in mind that neither sites allow even artistic nudity however. Here's a tutorial that should help you: :)

New to CGTalk? Learn how to post IMAGES here! (http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=267088)
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=267088

EDIT: Thanks for all the replies guys - I'll post replies soon, just want to post a quick image done for Don's Workshop, we're on to horns now:

I really like the new figure work you are doing with the weird textures over them. Cool stuff.

How's life in where-ever-the-hell you are? ; )

Rebeccak

12 December 2006, 04:40 AM

Hi guys,

Thanks for all the comments! I'm really sorry for not posting replies, right now I'm in the throes of trying to get my show hung, which I'll be doing tomorrow. These are photos of the rough arrangement of my final images as they'll be in the Gallery.

Right now, things are in the "before" stage - but I'm exceedingly happy with how the prints turned out, in person, they really look fantastic - the printers did a great job. Only one turned out damaged, so they'll hopefully be reimbursing me for that.

Hard to really get a sense of the images from the bad photos, but thought I'd post them anyway:

http://anatomy.cgnetworks.com/MFA/Gallery-show_before_01.jpg

http://anatomy.cgnetworks.com/MFA/Gallery-show_before_02.jpg

http://anatomy.cgnetworks.com/MFA/Gallery-show_before_03.jpg

http://anatomy.cgnetworks.com/MFA/Gallery-show_before_04.jpg

http://anatomy.cgnetworks.com/MFA/Gallery-show_before_05.jpg

http://anatomy.cgnetworks.com/MFA/Gallery-show_before_06.jpg

http://anatomy.cgnetworks.com/MFA/Gallery-show_before_07.jpg

I'll post images of the opening or of the final images when they're properly hung. It's really gratifying to see these printed - the first time I've printed large pieces like this for an exhibition, and my first 'solo' exhibition. Also it's neat to see the stuff I've learned myself through these forums being put to the test. While only a starting point, I'm happy with what I've achieved and what's cool is that I can see so many possibilities with this medium that maybe I couldn't see before. I owe a debt to the experience of interacting on these forums with everyone for pushing me forward in terms of my digital abilties - the inspiration and support here is endless and for that I'm really happy and appreciative.

NR43

12 December 2006, 09:56 AM

You know, it's a darn pitty I can't be there to see your work!
Looks already impressive from these pictures

Wishing you all the best for your exhibition Rebecca!

razz

12 December 2006, 11:06 AM

Cool stuff, Rebecca. Concgratulations on the first solo exhibition. I believe it'll go fine, 'cause the pieces are worth a look and they must look even better when printed then they look on the pc screen, if the printers do good job, which they did in your case.
I'll wait for more photos to come of how the exhibition goes :bounce:

Icey

12 December 2006, 11:52 AM

wow... this is one hell of a one man show! The prints look great! Quite big sizes. What is that they are printed on? Can't wate to see pictures dureing the show!

Wish i could do that someday - have a show of my own.... :)

Best wishes!!
Icey

SpiritDreamer

12 December 2006, 01:02 PM

HEY....Rebecca...:bounce: :applause: :thumbsup:

I really like the way those dark ones look against the white walls...kind of like windows into a night full of dream...BEAUTIFUL..:thumbsup:
Am curious,...are those printed using the GICLEE method on canvas,..or on good paper.
What finish did you go with...matt....semi gloss....give us the details...come on here lady...dying to know....:scream:
WISHING YOU THE BEST OF LUCK...:thumbsup:
FANTASTIC BODY OF WORK..:applause:

TAKE CARE
Glenn

Intervain

12 December 2006, 04:52 PM

this is so cool! I wish I could see your vernisage! I love those images on the white bg - the muscle guys [like I wouldn't LOL] most of all... Really great job on those prints indeed! are those printed on canvas?

pushav

12 December 2006, 05:11 PM

Wow!
Nice work. Congrats on getting a show.
Peace

FateBringer

12 December 2006, 05:14 PM

WOOT:applause:

Going to be an amazing show :buttrock:so no worrying, relax and enjoy the moment :)
(not that i've ever even been to an art showing but it must be like playing live on stage.)

agree with SpiritDreamer need more details! (when you get time) size, time, cost, prep, mounting all of it :scream: oh and where to get it done, just act like i don't know anything, 'cause i don't.

Best Wishes... err umm...break a leg?

Mark

anandpg

12 December 2006, 06:47 AM

Awesome, Rebecca...!!!:bounce::applause: Its gonna be a GREAT show!! congrats!!.. and good luck!!

Mu

12 December 2006, 11:18 AM

Hi Rebecca,

I am so wanting to go and see that exhibition! The effect of those prints must be impressive!

When I was looking at the photos I noticed that the story these paintings tell is enhanced so much just by the large format alone.

I would also like to just express my feelings about your approach in general: From the ballpen drawings to the Photoshop paintings, the stories you tell mostly do without the usual props of so many artists starting with pointed ears, generously splattering blood over everything and embedding it in a hopefully breathtaking environment, rendering it all to death.

Now, I gotta admit that the paintings I just described played an important part in "hooking" me to CG in particular and making me want to properly learn how to draw in the first place.

But the way you made me and so many people around here focus on the human body as study material and story material, and the way you practise this storytelling yourself really reminds me of virtues which are normally to be found in renaissance painting. I could write long boring paragraphs about similarities and connotations, here (heck, I already did...:D)

The point is: your art is truly inspiring.

Your teaching rocks, but I think the audience in here learned a lot just watching you paint, so don't neglect that when you're done with your thesis and all...

And I would also like to know details about the files you prepared for printing, like dpi/resolution and printing details...

And tell us what kinds of reaction you got from people/visitors!

CgIcecube

12 December 2006, 08:32 PM

Wonderful Gallery Rebecca!..Well theres so much to agree and add on all that Mu said!..I admire you for this and more!..Congratulations and looking forward to know the experience you had!..*Damn wish i could visit*

Talaria

12 December 2006, 02:00 AM

Wow your exhibition is great! you're very talented.

ytresu

12 December 2006, 02:24 PM

Hi RebeccaK, it seems your show will be great! I'm sorry I cannot be there but I'd like to take a look at more photo of the show.
Can you tell me about the dimension of the panels and the printing techinic?

However I think your latest works are very interesting either the one with black background and the one with white background. I love the obscure side of your paintings from wich are emerging legs, harms and bodies parts. I think the light is a very important thing in your works... like in Caravaggio ... and this is a compliment!

Cheers

fredlovebot

12 December 2006, 05:59 PM

Hmm, It seems you might have forgotten to post the flight tickets to me so i can check out this awesome show! :D

How big are those?!

JoeGonzalez

12 December 2006, 03:19 AM

Are you familiar with the work of Oscar Muñoz? Some of the works in your Journey series are quite reminiscent of his shower curtain paintings.

Take care and merry happy cheers from the sunny Christmas land down under :beer: :wavey:

Annette :)

kicha

12 December 2006, 05:45 PM

alAs ,i have scrapped to you, rebecca,your works inspire so many people ,i am also one in the thousand,i have just begun and i will try to learn always,,simply to say "YOUR SKILL IS GREAT",
THATS ALL...KEEP INSPIRING,THANX

anandpg

12 December 2006, 05:04 PM

Hi Rebecca...
Just dropped in to say hi and MERRY CHRISTMAS(its a bit late though.. anyways, hope you had a great Christmas!!) ... and thanks for everything you are doing.. its a beautiful little world we are building here with your help, amidst all the man-made chaos on this planet..

Thanks a lot..!!

Anand.

NR43

12 December 2006, 07:27 AM

Well... also late for Xmas wishes but not to wish you

ALL THE BEST FOR 2007. May it be a wonderful year full of warmth and good health!

43
aka
Johan

ps: I hope your exhibition is going great and you're selling lots of work :D

nelchee

01 January 2007, 04:02 PM

Hi Rebecca,
I admire your enthusiasm so much, and it's wonderful what you do for the rest of us :)
your studies are great, and I'm especially impressed by the ballpoint pen and pen hatching, I haven't given it enough practice yet.

I was wondering is charcoal better then for these figure studies? I've seen the majority of your work in this thread is in charcoal, but I've never tried it (or anything else than graphite, ink and digital, to be honest) so I'd like some advice on this.

Cujo03

01 January 2007, 10:55 PM

Congratulations on the show, Rebecca. Good stuff!

NR43

01 January 2007, 08:23 AM

Hey Rebecca

Thanks again for your kind help (on charcoal drawing)
The book from William Maughan... wow... might be exactly what I am looking for... been wanting to do some portraits in his style... so I added it to my amazon wishlist.
Thanks girl!

I'm so late that I noticed your thread just now. You are so unbelievably good with traditional mediums, I don't know what to say *gasp* There is such a classical feel to your sketches.
You make me want to grab my pencils again. Thank you for the inspiration.

Samanthie

02 February 2007, 04:00 PM

Hey Rebecca, I don't know where you find the time to do all you do, but I really appreciate it. Thanks for all of the helpful advice on my last piece and the workshops too! :thumbsup:

-voraz-

02 February 2007, 09:16 AM

Hi Rebecca, that exihbit you are preparing looks fantastic. The prints of your work look really great, makes me wonder about what sizes you work on...
I like how you applyied the textures in those pieces.
I think your style is very original.

Good luck with your show, I think it will be a success.
cheers

anandpg

02 February 2007, 09:58 AM

Hey Rebecca, wassup?.... done anything new you can show us? pleeease??:bounce: you've given it quite a rest, you know!

razz

02 February 2007, 02:10 PM

Hey, Rebecca, saw your tutorial on the contour drawing today. The ballpoint-pen drawing you've done look wonderfull. Amazed how you can draw faces like those without construction lines. Seeing them here would be great too, not everyone goes to that thread or has it subscribed.
Again, wonderful drawings :) :bounce:

Rebeccak

02 February 2007, 02:13 PM

Guys,

Thank you so much for your replies! I have been shamefully neglecting this thread...but will reply to everyone and update today, just as soon as I get some tea and brekky. :D

My apologies for neglecting my own thread - ironic, isn't it? :D

Cheers!

Gord-MacDonald

02 February 2007, 03:04 PM

judging from the photos you have a wonderful space to showcase your beautiful work congratulations!

Gord

Rebeccak

02 February 2007, 06:58 PM

Aggie, thanks, I'm hoping to be finished around the end of February.

CyborgJA, thank you!

Gisaiagami, thanks!

Mu, thanks pooky biscuits, your comments are appreciated. :)

Frejasphere, thank you!

Eduardo, thanks!

Shay, thanks buddy!

Johan, thanks for the well wishes!

razz, thanks!

Icey, I hope you have a show soon too. :) These are all printed on a light jet printer from a specialty print shop, they they mounted the prints on foamcore.

Magdalena, thanks! I would have printed to canvas, but it would have been astronomically expensive.

pushav, thank you!

Mark, thanks a lot!

Anand, thank you sir!

Mu again, thank you dear. :) I always like to read your thoughts. Files were around 35" x 60" at 300 dpi. Really good reaction from everyone, though the show was held at a bad time / end of the semester, so not as many people saw it as I wished - but still a good turnout, and I heard a number of people say it was the best show they'd seen in that gallery, so I was stoked!

Richa, thank you sweetie!

Talaria, thanks a lot!

ytresu, a nice compliment coming from you, thanks!

gorg, how could I have forgotten your tickets? When are you coming to visit? ;)

JoeGonzalez, thanks for stopping by. :)

Glenn and Frejasphere, thanks for the warm wishes!

kicha, thanks so much!

nelchee, thanks! I definitely recommend using charcoal pencils, shaved and sharpened to a point.

Cujo03, thank you!

Johan, happy to help!

killermachine, thanks!

Marta, thank you.

Samanthie, thanks, no problem! Good to see you back here!

-voraz-, thanks!

Anand, now I feel so guilty! I have to update. Will do so right now.

razz, thank you! A nice compliment coming from you. :)

Gord, thanks!

Ok I'll be updating in 2 shakes...am so sorry for the lack of replies, just preoccupied I guess....

Rebeccak

02 February 2007, 07:03 PM

Ok, I don't recall what I have and haven't posted here, but here goes:

nice!
Rebeccak,
I draw my sketches with my tablet! I think it's good for me to draw some of my sketches on paper & some traditional styles & tools!
but what is your advice adout this to me?

Rebeccak

02 February 2007, 11:02 PM

coochaki,

Thanks! :) I think it's a good idea to do both - I'm on a traditional kick now but at some point I'll do more digital sketches. I find traditional drawing to be the most satisfying emotionally, but I can get a more 'finished' work digitally. So it's good to balance both, and I am constantly trying to find that balance.

I think one of the best people who have really struck that balance is zhuzhu - check out his sketchbook here, his work is amazing! Thanks for dropping by. :)

Wow! Wow!.... :drool: ...do you have any idea how much we have been missing this stuff? ... Thanks a lot for the inspiration, Rebecca!

kary

02 February 2007, 06:21 AM

Really love this sketch, and hope you move into a finished piece in a similar vein. You're well equipped to do a horse and rider piece :)

A few thoughts: You spent a lot of your energy on in the legs, head and shoulders. Those areas are lovely, almost exactly what you'd want in a sketch like that (gesture, power etc), but the core of the body is weak. If you look at the way that the neck on your's rolls into the body vs the orig. yours has a more dramatic 'hump' to it, and you've got a more truncated hind quarters. With that you lose a bit of the elongated and elegant power that should be there.

It took awhile to click as the front end has tons of power and energy and carries the sketch :)

Rebeccak

02 February 2007, 06:51 AM

Anand, thanks so much for the encouragement! It means a lot coming from you. :)

kary, you know I love your crits! Thank you for your insights, I will try to keep them in mind...though I must confess that with drawings sometimes I am not very organized in approach, and so at times the outcome is highly unpredictable - I am learning to analyze as I go along and to try to better understand why some things work and why some don't, and to correct them as I go along. Cheers :)

I was just reading what you wrote about unpredictable outcomes..:eek:
I am not one to talk about such things...LOL..:scream: ...BUT..A bunch of tiny
thumbnail sketches ahead of the finished bigger piece, will solve that
unpredictable element, if it is a problem that is or is not...:scream:
But then again...unpredictabilty can be nice , and also has it's merits..and rewards...which of course are TOTALLY UNPREDICTABLE..LOL :scream: :)
KEEP INSPIRED, AND INSPIRING...Rebecca
I love those horse drawings by the way...full of motion and energy..:bounce: :applause: :thumbsup:

TAKE CARE
Glenn

vincent1

02 February 2007, 12:06 PM

Don't think it's sucky at all.

The whimsical & horse sketches have an attractive flow to them, one of the horses feels less inspired though.

Kind of reminds me da vinci's horses. Good stuff!

Rebeccak

02 February 2007, 09:05 PM

Thanks a lot for your comments Glenn. :) No, I actually don't want a totally predictable outcome - that's the fun part of gesture, it's sort of hit and miss - when you hit, you feel really lucky and smart, and when you miss, you just chalk it up to practice. :D

vincent1, thank you. :) I definitely think some of the sketches are better than others, but that's also part of the hit and miss aspect to it all. :) I frankly don't understand how people like DaVinci et all got to be as good as they did...it's beyond my comprehension, heh.

So I've been trying to get into doing color studies a bit since it's a major weakness of mine - here's a quick landscape from ref (http://lava.nationalgeographic.com/cgi-bin/pod/enlarge.cgi?day=15&month=02&year=07):

That last horse is beautiful! I love the way you draw figures, all flowey and yet solid. I have to try that sometimes, reminds me a lot of davinci. I also really dig that last reference, ::puts in in her own reference folder::

Rebeccak

02 February 2007, 02:17 AM

ThePatches, thanks a lot! The reference is great, see the 15 Min Sketchathon Ref. (http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?p=4199672#post4199672) thread for more.

Amazing Rebecca, so much movement in thiese sketches. And the way you handle charcoal, mm...Contrast, thickness of the linework is very impressive. Aahh, ok, I'm getting speechless. More inspirational pieces like these, please!

razz, Mu, and Gunie, thank you so much guys! Your support is really sweet. :)

You know, I feel incredibly stupid, but it has never (or rarely) occurred to me to try sketching vs. painting in PS - but wow, am I really enjoying it. I think all the traditional work has really helped. My supervisor is interested in a horse painting, so it's a good excuse to do some preliminary warmups / exercises / experiments.

Digital this time, from reference:

http://anatomy.cgnetworks.com/Horses/Horse_001.jpg

Mainly from imagination with some ref for the head:

http://anatomy.cgnetworks.com/Horses/Horse_002.jpg

kary

02 February 2007, 11:48 PM

Considering you started to study horses a week ago that is really impressive from imagination :). Nice to see you sketching digitally, you might want to give painter another shot for that, it's quickly growing on me anyway. It's nice to be working in very broad strokes, and still have all the undo/erase power that digital brings to the table. It seems to almost allow more gesture in the drawing, as there is no consequence at all for being wrong -- you don't even need to spend time on a trace over :)

The horse in post 471 is great! It's cool seeing how much you've improved over your already stellar level since I've been around! It also looks as if your latest OFDW is going smoothly, I'll keep an eye on it!

razz

02 February 2007, 10:10 AM

Saw your start on the OFDW in the OFDW thread, really liked it. I remember one day I was wondering that you could post more of your stuff and now it's like a wish come true! :D Now wait, you really started studying horses a week ago? If so, than I'm speechles about how far you've come already, drawing a horsie from imagination like that...
Oh, tell me about this OFDW piece, is he going to be an angel or a devil?

Rebeccak

02 February 2007, 06:03 PM

Clippy, great to see you back! Thank you for the compliments. :)

razz, thanks for the support buddy! Always appreciate your comments. :) Not really sure re: angel or devil - he's a satyr, so I'm not sure what those are considered to be - definitely not angels heh, but I'm not sure they're totally devils either...

I think satyrs were often used to impersonate the more joyful things of life that were considered to be sins... might have to do with unwillingness of the artist to follow the restrictions and (strict) rules of their religion :)

Gorgeous start. Lovely flow through the neck, sturdy sense of the barrel, and great execution on the leg -- especially from imagination, it's very full in dimension (time and 3d both really, easy to see it as a moment).

Oddly I really want the ears in there -- probably to establish the twist of the spine at the back of the head. Might work nicely with flame for a mane and a demonic rider :D, but thats just because of all the darn ghostrider adverts on tv.

I hope.

Rebeccak

02 February 2007, 02:45 AM

Thanks a lot for the boost of confidence kary, it's appreciated. :) Going to get those ears in there soonish, I promise. :)

Here's a bit of an update to the composite sketch - hoping to start the digital version tomorrow:

Lovely. Thanks for the steps, Rebecca. Just wondering, you seem to increase contrast a lot as you go - what do you use to remove the excess charcoal when you want to emphasize the highlights ?

Cheers,
-TA

anandpg

02 February 2007, 09:28 AM

Hey Rebecca! looks like this is really gonna be awesome!:bounce: .... hmmm... a few crits, though..
1. the neck seems a bit too short compared to the body.

2. the chest is too broad/shoulders have gone too far from the middle-line.

3... and look out for those hind legs... the knee should be close to the body in a normal horse. yours has gone way down, almost doubling the size of the thigh.

great rendering though! looking forward to more horses from you!:bounce:

Mu

02 February 2007, 09:36 AM

Hi Rebecca,

two questions:

- how large are you workin in ps? This looks like a giant file. Is it roughly the same size like your thesis pieces?

- shouldn't the bottom line of the belly be continued between the two hind legs? Right now it looks as if (in the digital version) it would have to run behind the far hind leg which makes them look as if both of them were on one side of the torso...::shrug: :

Rebeccak

02 February 2007, 05:54 PM

tiziano, thank you, I'm glad you like it. :) About contrast, things are thrown off a bit by the photos I'm taking - I'm not sure if you're seeing greater contrast in the photos (which are affected by time of day, PS levels, etc.) or if you mean the darker lines that I'm adding as I draw. Certainly I put in lighter areas of tone first until I'm confident that those areas can be emphasized further with darker tone or darker lines. I pretty much try to put in the gesture first with the most sweeping strokes, add light tone, then once I sort of feel my way through the whole, go back and add emphasis in terms of darker tones and lines as necessary. Hope that helps. :)

Anand, thank you so much for the crits! So much will change during the digital process - right now things are, as you can see, pretty much a pastiche and this is a really fun experiment for me to try to work this way - we'll see how successful it is, lol. But I very much appreciate your crits and will bear them in mind once I have all of the other elements in place. :)

Mu, so far the collaged image is about 20" x26" at 180 dpi (the resolution of my camera). I'll up res once I get to the serious digital painting aspect of it. You're totally right about the center line, this is definitely still in the pastiche stage, but I'll definitely remember to put the legs on the opposite sides of the body in the final. :D

I've drawn the upper right leg and used a copy of it for the upper left leg, which I think is working better than the prior one. All still very much WIP'ish, and will experiment digitally to get things to gel more cohesively, first with lines, but today I still want to work traditionally:

Interesting dragon. I think my only problem is the head isn't that clear to in the first shot. It seems much clearer in the collage. Which I really like; it prompts a story.

Zephyri

02 February 2007, 03:39 AM

Already shared my thoughts on the OFDW piece in that thread, so I'll just stop by to say thanks for all the hard work you put in here. And I wish i'd been able to attend your show, I can only image how powerful the kind of studies you do would be in an environment like that. I got the chance to go to the Walker Arts Centre in Minneapolis while I was out there over new year, and they had an exhibition of drawings of the figure, including some Picasso, Klimt and a host of other artists whose name escapes me, but the impact of seeing them there in the flesh was much more profound than looking on screen. I think you'd have appreciated the show.

anandpg

02 February 2007, 03:44 AM

Oh!! this is awesome!:bounce: anxious to see how this turns out!!

Rebeccak

02 February 2007, 07:24 AM

Asatira, thanks for popping by and for the comments - things will change so much as this is painted, but I'll make sure to make the dragon's head stand out! :) Thanks again.

Zeph, your comments are always appreciated and it's so inspiring to see the work around here that it's totally worth the effort. There's no way I'd be doing even this much work without everyone's constant encouragement / participation, so I have the forum members to thank for that. :) Glad you liked the thesis pieces! Yes, it was such a different and new experience (esp. for me) to see the pieces printed, and it gives me an entirely different perspective on the whole process of generating art. I was excited to see the possibilities, and it definitely affects how I see my work. Thank you! :)

Anand, thanks a lot! Hoping I can finish this, we'll see...

Ok, here is where I'm at now - drew the hind legs of the dragon thingy and then played with the composition til I found something I liked - let me know what you think, all is in flux - oh I know the duplication of the legs means I need to reverse the thumbs etc., still very much in the pastiche stage, can tweak all of that as I go along:

A digital update, working on the horse only for the time being since the entire file is so large:

SylvanMist

02 February 2007, 03:51 AM

That looks really neat so for Rebecca! I can really see how you spending all that time on learning the musculature from the masters paid off, you've really seemed to capture that well in these images. It'll be interesting to see how this all will come together :)

Rebeccak

02 February 2007, 07:03 AM

Thanks a lot Roja! :) This is probably the most ambitious purely from imagination pieces I've done digitally, so I'm happy too that the extended study is (hopefully) paying off ;) -

Here's as far as I got tonight:

kary

02 February 2007, 07:33 PM

Awkward day on CGTalk, hope this doesn't triple post ^^.

The texture of the horse seems odd to me, I can't really read the lighting from it. It has full black to pale grey and is reading greasy to me. Since there is no rim light along where the mane would be it's hard to explain the broad highlight running across the neck. It leads me to think that the horse is nearly jet black, with the light coming from nearly behind the viewer (which is a very flat lighting style).

The face of your wyvern/dragon is working very nicely. Even at this res it has a scaly lizary feel.

Have you looked at it with a 'thirds' grid over it?

http://img122.imageshack.us/img122/1491/untitled1ch5.jpg

While the way that the heads of the wyvern and horse line up, and the shape that their bodies form, is interesting I wondered if you had looked at it with the horse a smidgen lower in the frame to get the shoulder, or 'elbow', onto that classic compositional mark. As is the wyvern head is almost dead center of the piece, and the human figure can shoot your eye out of the page:

http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/2584/untitled2vg3.jpg

I wondered if a slight rotation to the wyvern, and a push to the left, would open up a slight change to figure and maybe put a rim light on an arm splayed out to point back into the piece (to change the orange read).

Of course those comments are without any awareness of how you intend to direct the eye with your final rendering, the dominance that you want in the different figures (if the horse and wyvern are played up the figure is a secondary thing and won't be a problem), etc.

Love the content, how ambitious it is, and the energy you're taking from your study drawings into the final composite. Not sure if any of the compositional stuff that I mentioned is relevant, but I did have 20 minutes to burn waiting for the snow to stop :).

The documenting of the development you're doing makes for a very engaging "viewing" experience :)

Rebeccak

02 February 2007, 09:36 PM

kary, thanks loads for the crits, I'll give them a think and try to incorporate some changes in subsequent versions - the po's are much appreciated! :) Had never heard the term 'wyvern' before so my geekedumacation continues :D - always enjoy your insights as you know. ^-^

An update for today:

EDIT:

Mu

02 February 2007, 09:35 AM

Hi Rebecca,

The wyrm and the horse are totally stunningly beautiful and I can already see a great story about the loyal and valiant horse defending its master a.s.o.

only thing that sort of stands out (in an unpleasant way) is how the guy looks a bit... dunno... just not as believable as the other two...

*clears throat*
*prepares for the big moment*

are you using ref for that figure?

:D

Rebeccak

02 February 2007, 07:50 PM

Mu, ROFL, thanks for the regurgitated advice :D guess I had that coming, LOL! Well, there are some major changes in the way so let me know what you think. :)

Okay, thanks to bumskee I've seen a lot of flaws in the composition, and decided to play with it today - any feedback on the new comp would be appreciated. :)

Mu

02 February 2007, 08:30 AM

WOw, it really looks like a big epic struggle, now!

Only thing I don't like is how the horse looks totally defeated somehow. That dragon thingy looks so insurmountable. Hrng, I just want a happy ending implied, that's all...

...I am off to my sissy corner...:blush:

NR43

02 February 2007, 08:43 AM

Same thing occured to me... i think it would look more balanced if the demon's/dragon's tail would appear underneath the horse instead of the other way around.
Nevertheless, this is really wonderful stuff!

Icey

02 February 2007, 07:03 PM

Can't critiq anything on composition - i see something good turning here! Just wating for the final image! I like the pencils a lot!

Best wishes!!
Icey :)

Rebeccak

02 February 2007, 09:17 PM

Mu, thanks! I actually have a more recent version I forgot to post. It's got the dragon's tail behind the horse:

Johan, thanks! Yep, I see what you guys mean. :)

Icey, thanks a lot! Good to see you here. :)

Okay, so batten down the hatches and prepare for a s***load of SPs - trust me, I don't enjoy staring at myself this much, but it's required: :rolleyes:

Hej Rebeccak, these last pieces are incredible!
And it looks so easy for you ... :D :thumbsup:

I primarily like this one:
http://www.rebeccakimmel.com/gallery/albums/Traditional-Drawings/_Charcoal-Drawings_9983.jpg

Amazing control of your material! :):thumbsup:
Hope that you can post more of those, I really enjoy them!

Noredin

02 February 2007, 11:18 PM

Wow people just keep amaze me here on cgtalk!!
I love your work!!

I guess lots of people can learn to paint/sketch but few can put emotions in the picture,,
And you are one of them!

Rebeccak

02 February 2007, 05:26 AM

Noredin, thank you! :) Appreciate your comments!

Here is an update on the OFDW piece - I don't know if this is the right direction in which to go, but I'm experimenting a lot with the composition since I got some very helpful critique noting that the composition was far too centered - we'll see where this goes: :)

Elliepower

02 February 2007, 08:55 AM

Hi Rebecca,

in this compo my eye moves to the upper right edge, out of the picture. Perhaps it needs something there to stop the flow of the view? But this is very epical and I like the idea very much.

And the SP's... looking so easy to do. The expressions... *lol* at the one Bapke likes you seem to be a bit severly, like a teacher observing kids.

Ciao,
Ellie

Cyanid

02 February 2007, 09:31 AM

hehe your face gets a really classical touch now :)
It shows youve been studying the old masters...the SP-s do have something rubens/michelangelo-ish over them. and thats a compliment.
what kinda paper is that you were working on?

Rebeccak

03 March 2007, 03:48 AM

Ellie, hahaha, thanks for your comments! :) Lol about the SPs. :D Am still in the process of tweaking this a lot, what do you think?

Cy, thanks for dropping by. Those stats were cool! :) Hmm the paper varied from cheap brown wrapping paper (that comes in a roll) to good Canson / toned paper. The Canson is expensive but the texture is great. Good to experiment with every now and then.

Didn't get the chance to work on this til today - here's where I'm at: :)

anandpg

03 March 2007, 06:49 AM

Ooooooh! Rebecca!! the self portraits are really sweet!:bounce: you should choose a few of them and turn them into finished oil paintings!!... especially this one... my favourite!
http://www.rebeccakimmel.com/gallery/albums/Traditional-Drawings/Sketchbook_Scan-027B.jpg

cheers!!:thumbsup:

SpiritDreamer

03 March 2007, 10:51 AM

Hi...Rebecca..:)

Just noticed those self portraits....WOW...NICEEEE..:thumbsup:
Second one on brown wrapping paper...really captured your likeness in that one...:applause: ....but they all have a really nice feel to them, and are capturing a great varity of moods...can't wait to see more of these..:thumbsup:
I like the way you are experimenting with different angles also,..like that up angle view...great to just put the mirror on the floor, and sit above it, or have it perched above you ...or even use two or three mirrors, for different perspectives...just to keep it interesting, and challenging..:scream: :)
Hope your class is going GREAT...KEEP INSPIRED, AND INSPIRING..:)
TAKE CARE
Glenn

CyborgJA

03 March 2007, 12:23 PM

SO beautiful. There are no words.

Rebeccak

03 March 2007, 10:08 PM

Glenn, thanks for the steady encouragement. :) Appreciate the tips and suggestions!

CyborgJA, thank you, that's really sweet!

Still recomposing this piece, ha!

pushav

03 March 2007, 10:31 PM

Cool works of art once more!
Keep it up:bounce:

razz

03 March 2007, 10:39 PM

Hi, Rebecca, you shouldn't call that s***tload, those self-portraits are gorgeous!! Especially love Anand's favorite and the one drawn on toned paper with black and white charcoal (that's charcoal, right?). Sooo, I'll save them to my hard drive for safe keeping :D I like to look through what I've saved from time to time.

Your OFDW piece is changing a pretty lot. Not much I could suggest, you're the one I'm learning from here :)

CyborgJA

03 March 2007, 01:51 PM

UHMN http://forum.html.it/forum/images/smilies/mmmm.gif
I do not understand what you want to express in this pic. Can you explain it please?

Gord-MacDonald

03 March 2007, 07:29 PM

I like the self portraits - esp. the clean simple ones - lovely to look at.

Gord

Rebeccak

03 March 2007, 08:33 PM

pushav, thanks a lot! :)

razz, thank you very much, that is very sweet of you to say. :)

CyborgJA, lol, you know, I need to figure that out myself. ;) I'm taking a break from it and trying some new things, hope to come back to it soon. :)

Gord, thanks a lot! :)

Ok guys - please don't laugh - here's my first foray into digital sculpting - from a sphere, just trying to get a feel for things, not trying to do anything specific:

Umm...teehee. :D

LunaticSymphony

03 March 2007, 09:00 PM

Hey Rebecca, photoshop or 3d?

erilaz

03 March 2007, 11:10 PM

Ok guys - please don't laugh - here's my first foray into digital sculpting - from a sphere, just trying to get a feel for things, not trying to do anything specific:

One minor technical thing to point out is working from a sphere is really irritating and rather hard. Having the two big poles makes for some really really weird results. I'm working from a sphere, for a competition, and there are parts of the mesh that splinter into jagged oddities as soon as I touch it with the smooth tool. Not something that happens with a generic imported mesh. If you're finding some areas that are acting much more strangely then others thats why.

I have an extremely plain base male mesh if you want (http://forums.cgsociety.org/www.karyblack.com/longterm/malebase.zip) it. If anyone grabs it you likely want to sub divide once or twice and be sure some of the key anatomy points are in a decent position. There is also (a rather more polished) female model available on the mudbox3d forums. Anyone looking for inspiration, Kolby Jukes put out a timelapse (http://www.tweakcg.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=396) a few days ago.

---

Your first sculpt looks a lot like my first one did :D You've got the start of an interesting expression through the mouth though, while I had mainly... lumps. Another 10 or 20 sculpts and it'll not feel like a foreign language anymore, another 200 after that and (my theory has) it should feel natural :D

SpiritDreamer

03 March 2007, 01:39 AM

HEY....Rebecca.....LOL ...SORRY, COULDN'T RESIST...:scream:

Great to see you exploring those sphere's ...I think you will really be able to capture some great emotions...they are a great way to practice the fine art of facial expression in a very quick way also ...Having gained this practice will really add to your 2d work I think..:thumbsup:
I find that those facets created before you sub devide are very simaler to the contour drawings that you have been exploring lately, and also allow for the development of the different planes...get them in there first, then it is like magic when you sub devide..the hardest part is already done kind of thing...then it is just a matter of refining and adding textures ect if you chose to...The lighting system is also great to experiment with..:)

GET INTO Z BRUSH BY GLEN SOUTHERN...KURV STUDIOS is a great DVD...He is a friend of Chris Palamino's, who turned me onto him and his teaching method...he makes it very understandable, and sort of simplifies things, so that even I can understand them...:scream:
WWW. kurvstudios.com You might want to check him out, will make this journy your entering into a lot easier I think..:)

Anyway, can't wait to see where this 3d journy and adventure takes you :thumbsup: ....looks like you are off to a great start...:bounce: :thumbsup:
TAKE CARE
Glenn

Samanthie

03 March 2007, 02:44 AM

Lovely self portraits Rebecca, I also think they have a classical feel to them.
I didn't realize your ofdw has two dragons until now. That horse doesn't stand a chance. :D

anandpg

03 March 2007, 09:13 AM

OOOOH!:scream: Great to see you sculpting!! more! more!:bounce::bounce:

Samanthie, thank you! Lol, yeah, I'm trying to send in more troops for the horse. :)

Glenn, hahaha - thanks for stopping by and for the hints! I think I will check into those. Thanks for the encouragement!

kary, thanks for pointing out that competition to me, I think it made me laugh enough to break through that pesky fear of failure, making an idiot of myself. ;) They say necessity is the mother of all invention, and such has borne true, I managed to make a horrific poly base mesh :D as I figured I'd only get so far modeling highly textured avocados :D - let me know what you think of the results. I have a base mesh for a female (as provided by mashru) but it's probably best I learned to do it the right way myself. :) Your offer is very much appreciated!

I saw the timelapse video and it's great. Haha about everyone's first sculpts looking the same!

Martin, thanks for stopping by buddy! I've been trying to experiment with both.

My first sculpts dnt even have a proper structure:rolleyes:and that was bcoz of bad anatomy knowledge:)
We can see some good form building up thr already:bounce:

Btw did u model base mesh for the male body in your last post?!! Which software are you using for digital sculpting?!! I really appreciate kary's post regarding geometry:)

Wonderful new choice!..
I ll be a regular here now:bounce:

kary

03 March 2007, 09:36 PM

Um you took a nice step up from day1 to day2 :D

General Blather: The constant reiterated advice of 'get everything done at the lowest level you can before moving on' is worth keeping in mind. Not to the point that it interrupts a train of thought, but that is the way to keep a piece unified. It has not manifested as a big problem here, but you've got most of the muscles firmed out on the front / side, with a fairly soft back (especially his 'backside' ;)).

Working on a headless / lower limbless model is a great way to get started. Look at the sketches of Michaelangelo; his torsos and upper limbs were well delineated and showed off the form and purpose of the figure, with the lower limbs hashed in quickly (and with the face worked up separately and larger). No reason you can't apply that digitally -- if you can sculpt a torso you can make a finger.

Specific Blather: The inner calf (gastrocnemius?) looks a bit wonky. Probably as he's getting a bit 'thunderious tighieous' in general, so you'd want to toss a bit more emphasis on the calf and Vastus medialis (can you tell I have an anatomy book in front of me?). To me this sculpt is a great time to go nuts and emphasize the hell out of things. You know your muscles and not every project is going to need them articulated, take the opportunities to show that off :). Do decide on how far you're going to take things though, it'll effect the unitiy of the figure (right now there is a slight schism between the upper torso and those strong legs), don't obesses though -- on the first few pieces theres no point in sinking 10 hours into something that you'll cover in 1/4 of the time on your next sculpt.

If your school happens to have it this (http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/dvds/zpe01.html) is a DVD that you would really enjoy watching.

Remember you can use the move tool in MB/ZB to work with things even after you've started detailing. Pagedown through a few levels of subdivision, grab the move tool, and spread out the foot with a big brush. If you're getting some shin into it play with the falloffs of the brush in the bottom right.

---

It's really great to see you doing this. The jump from your first experiment to your first torso is extreme. As per Icecube I'm left quite jealous of your anatomy knowledge / ability to apply it in a new medium so quickly :). Been trying to get started in this myself for the last week .5 and I haven't been able to close Peck's Atlas of Human Anatomy since I started. Coming at this medium I am finding it a more natural experience then drawing, there is a real connection between my (lack of) anatomy knowledge and the result that I get. There isn't even a barrier of perspective, or simply getting my hand to physically move correctly. Hopefully you have a similar response to it -- I'll have to post my sphere thing when I get back tonight :)

Rebeccak

03 March 2007, 12:06 AM

Richa,

Thanks for your generous comments :D - hehe, it's fun to experiment with this stuff, even if I'm a total baby to 3D compared to many around the forums. :) I'm experimenting with ZBrush and Mudbox.

kary,

ROFL at the distinction between general and specific blather! Hahahahaha that is a classic karyism that I can add to my growing repertoire of classic phrases. :D

Great idea re: the move tool. Oddly, the move tool is moving everything instead of just things locally as it did in the beginning - it doesn't seem to be paying attention to the brush size for some reason.

Thanks for all the comments, they're honestly appreciated. This is all really new territory so it's nice to have the encouragement - my finally buckling down to do a poly proxy box model was 90% of the battle :D - now that I know that I can get somewhere from my 'frog man' base models, I'm a happy camper. :D

This is how far I've gotten so far today - there are many many problems but I feel like the whole process is pretty gratifying:

EDIT: Update:

Samanthie

03 March 2007, 01:26 AM

Rebecca, it's amazing that you can sculpt like this so quickly! Good stuff.

Dreamy Kid

03 March 2007, 02:10 AM

rebecca, it's good that you finally touch the realm of 3d sculpting :thumbsup:. it is really a good start

Thomasphoenix

03 March 2007, 07:33 AM

Rebecca cool to see you Mudboxing !
I think someone already mentioned it ,but I thought I'll stress it once more,
Get as much detail out of your current level of subdivision before subdividing again,
I see here that the mesh is a bit too subdivided for the level of detail,and also its easier to smooth and get a chiseled look in lower subdivisions.

I am waiting to see your stuff after you hav got the hang of the software.

Siju, thank you, it's great to hear that advice reinforced. Especially as a beginner, I need to hear it! Glad you stopped by. :)

Richa, lol, you may express whatever dislike you please! :) I realize now I started off in the wrong way with the mudbox model (which is okay, it was done just to get my feet wet) so I've left it to try to box model in Maya. Thanks for the encouragement!

Here's a problem I'm having if anyone can offer some advice. I'm following Mirza's DVD closely, and am using an instance in order to be able to model both sides at the same time. Mirza recommended rotating the arms into the bind position but since that time, I've had trouble placing the pivot point locally, since in order to raise / rotate the arms, I had to move the pivot point. This makes it extremely frustrating as I cannot now seem to scale locally unless I keep moving the pivot point into position (see the screen capture below). For other tools you can set the pivot point to global or local, but not for the scale tool. Any advice with this is appreciated! :)

It's great to see you taking on this kind of challenge :D. Getting a credible base mesh for use in MB/ZB is very worth the effort, and will happen very fast. Now-a-days (I feel old saying that) you can viably take an extremely simple mesh in ZB/MB and work them up to a finished sculpt, and then develop the low res cage from that. Or you can make a low res cage, and detail it inside of MB/ZB. Both styles are important to know, and what you learn from them overlaps very nicely. Making a better base mesh makes for an easier high poly experience, and cutting out a base mesh from a high poly sculpt works your cage building abilities fast and hard.

With apologizes to Wiro for cutting into images from his wonderful tutorial (http://www.arildwiro.com/):

http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/9917/untitled21su2.jpg

I wanted to grab the visual ref for two issues, the pelvis and shoulders.

Pelvis: It looks like you've just started here (and I'm sure your DVD will cover it in detail, but may as well toss it up here now). You have the two lines of detail running up from the legs and across the abdomen very forcefully. Those lines will work against you a bit -- if you look at what Wiro's done there is a gap at the crotch, and the detail from the legs runs up into the trunk. This is an area to be thinking about muscle direction from the beginning.

Shoulder: My personal nightmare... ;) This is one area where being able to take a high poly sculpt, and make a cage from it will be very useful.

You can see in Wiro's how the bottom of the shoulder is cupped with another line of detail. The shoulder area also really needs to have you working with the muscle flow from the beginning. You can see in his that he's trying to account for how the pectorals wraps into the deltoid, and that can help a ton in animation. Strangely enough though, if you're making a very simple cage to high poly sculpt (eg: box cage, high poly sculpt, build "working cage" from high poly) it is best to leave this area as a plain 'box' joint. I also included the final shot from his forearm twist explaination -- he covers that very well, a section that is well worth a look.

The inside of the calf needs an adjustment (get the inside is lower then outside). Put in the width for the feet early, it's an important enough area of the body to be accounted for from the beginning.

When laying out a poly model try to think of how each line affects the silhouette, some of yours are a bit flat right now (inside of the the thigh). If you have all of your first lines "doing something" you're a lot less likely to get lost in detail later.

---

On your question, I use Max... and after reading that problem I am very happy to be ;)

anandpg

03 March 2007, 03:10 AM

Hey Rebecca! I havent been here for awhile.... delighted to see you sculpt!:bounce:
About your question,
You will find a tiny blue circle with a dot at the centre, at the top of the blue stick rising from your manipulator icon, when you are in edit(insert) mode. the tiny circle is a switch to hold the pivot in place.. click on it and maya will remember where you put your pivot even if you change your selection... to make it forget, click again!!:) hope this helps.
I will look thru your latest stuff later!... have to run!!
cheers:thumbsup:

aggie93

03 March 2007, 03:18 AM

Reb - That is amazing! WOW!

CyborgJA

03 March 2007, 07:51 AM

Oh, super-interesting!
I still have to study the basic anatomy but I was planning to have experience with 3D too so it's very useful to read about your approach to it.
Can't wait to see the next step ! :love:

batte812

03 March 2007, 11:45 PM

Hi Rebecca, interesting to see you starting in 3D! Some very good SP's as well a few pages back. Keep going!

Zapan

03 March 2007, 09:57 AM

Goooooodddddyyyyy :bounce:

Beckis 's sulpting like a nut , that's new and that's really exciting ! *runs in a circle of excitement*

The body sculpting is really cool , no wonder that you have the muscles spirit in these !
Also great start on your model with maya , really looking forward to see your next steps ...

About the pivot problem , I don't really know where the problem is from , usually , the pivot is centered on the current selection , if it's not , you can center it manually or can use center pivot from the modify menu ... also don't hesitate to clear the history of your mesh in the edit menu , sometimes some previous manipulations affect the further modifications ...

Anyway , hope to see more of this soon !

cheers ,

-Steph

Womball

03 March 2007, 09:19 PM

Ooh 3d work from you. I dunno if you can get as good of topology from box modelling but it is easier to understand than starting from an 8 sided circle. Your proportions are really nice though, I find that hard to do. The topology at the arm connection to the torso may cause some issues. Also a back view would be nice, the butt is also another area which is harder than you would expect it to be to model.

Corvax

03 March 2007, 09:53 PM

Before I go into some more advanced theories about your scale tool issue, please make sure the Component Use Object Pivot option is turned off, that should reset the scale tool pivot when in component mode.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i3/corvax123/scaleoptions.jpg

if that doesn't work, ill put on the geek hat, and give you a bunch of other solutions to your problem.:)

-- Cheers David.

adien

03 March 2007, 10:45 PM

Rebecca, love the self portraits, and really like the dragons and pegasus. Good for you for getting into modeling! I've been tempted to try out mudbox or zbrush myself, but I don't get enough time to draw as it is. :D

Don

Dreamy Kid

03 March 2007, 02:16 AM

becca, i've done mirza's dvd a while ago and it was such a slow process since i haven't learned a lot about human anatomy back then. Have you solved the problem with the vertex pivot point by the way ? let me know if you're still confused or stuck, I will make a tutorial with the screen captures if needed, thats the least i can do to help :)

btw i got a a question for you...( as always :scream:, this time regarding charcoal. I've been using charcoal for quite a while now, the pencil one to be exact ( general brand). and sometimes it tends to get scratchy when i'm shading, i mean it's ok if i'm going to smudge it with tissue paper later on, but most of the time we dont have a long pose. What i want to achieve is a nice grainy smoothly blended ( what a word :scream: ) look like you have in most of your drawings:wise:. I guess it could be the way i'm holding it or the way i sharpen it with my blade. if you have any tips please do let me know. thanks

Rebeccak

03 March 2007, 03:56 AM

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the tremendous support! Sorry for being awol lately, but I will probably only be lurking in the next several weeks as I have much to do in order to *finally* graduate. Your comments are much appreciated as always! :)

kary, thanks for the invaluable advice and for taking the time to critique. I may not have time to work on this for a bit but your careful eye and insightful comments are, as you know, much appreciated! Thanks for the image links, it really does help. :)

Anand, thanks for the comments and the tips! It worked out, on the next day things were fine again, so just a bit of technical weirdness. Good to see you come by, thank you for the encouragement! :)

aggie, thanks! Not amazing yet, but a noobie start at least. :)

CyborgJA, thanks for the comments! Hoping to come back to this soon. :)

batte812, thank you!

Steph! Heh, thanks! I hope to be doing more of this. It's a natural next step, and I've been procrastinating for long enough. Cheers!

Nathan, thank you for the comments! :)

David, thanks for coming out of posting retirement to help me! It's appreciated. :)

I basically whittle away a good portion of wood from the 6B charcoal pencil, exposing a good bit of charcoal, then sand carefully on a sanding pad to a point. Then you can draw using the point and / or the side of the pencil for tone. Hope this helps! :)

Here are some updates, some drawings done in Prismacolor pencils (which are the awesome) over a weekend spent at the beach:

This is a front view of a "deformed elephant" (don't ask, just felt like drawing this):

well..I'll try not to ask :D but it is an awesome sketch! Now get back to the books!:)

michael-olszak

03 March 2007, 01:02 PM

Hey rebecca. Cool stuff here. keep it up :)

Rebeccak

03 March 2007, 09:46 PM

Hehe, thanks you guys. :)

An update on the elephant / side view - you guys are probably going to hate me, but I now have a 21" Cintiq at work :D:

Knilblink

03 March 2007, 02:50 AM

Hey Rebecca,

I really enjoy your self-portrait sketches, perhaps you will take one of them further? :D As for these elephant forms, they're really bold! I like them.

You've made a great start at 3d modeling, it will be exciting to watch your progression. I'm sure your anatomy knowledge will be put to great use in modeling as it has been in drawing and painting.

... Enjoy that 21" Cintiq! :eek:

-Adam

Mu

03 March 2007, 08:35 AM

Do those cintiqs come with drool-protected surfaces, so you won't ruin it when you fall asleep on it at 3 a.m....?

:D

loving those elephant heads, btw. Add thin long legs and you have a perfect and original allusion to Dalì.

:)

Intervain

03 March 2007, 08:35 AM

3d!! yay - great to see you're getting into this :) well - you've head advice aplenty already and I'm no Maya expert [it's the worse modeling package out there :scream: - get xsi! *sneaky whisper*]! Will be looking out for more....

great sketches - ehem, won't ask but darn good of you to write what it was LOL - I was looking at if for some time before reading and could not figure it out for the world of me :scream:

and yes - I do hate you!!! sheesh - at home I only have my tiny A5 wacom - love it though... I'd kill for that cintiq and 21" too :eek: - oh well... one can dream ;)

Aviva

03 March 2007, 02:06 PM

Heheh, love the deformed elephants, beautiful work with the pencils! I just tried prismacolours myself for the first time, they are indeed awesome - so soft and blendy! Very brave of you to dive into the 3D stuff. I've really enjoyed looking through this thread. Keep up the great work! :)

Rebeccak

03 March 2007, 09:50 PM

Knilblink, thanks a lot! The Cintiq is really fantastic, I really should think about getting one at home.

Mu, ha! You've always picked up on my 'surrealist' streak, lol. Hmm, some people here at work have suggested I draw a pillow on the Cintiq and sleep on it. :D

Intervain, thanks for the encouragement! I probably won't get much chance for a little bit to do much more but hopefully when I get back from LA I can dive in again. :)

Aviva, thanks for stopping by! :)

Here's a little update on the elephant:

Samanthie

03 March 2007, 03:16 AM

He has personality now! Hey congrats on the Cintiq.:)

CyborgJA

03 March 2007, 11:58 AM

Hmm, some people here at work have suggested I draw a pillow on the Cintiq and sleep on it.

not sure where you're going with te elephant... are you going to give it a body?
the trunk seems a bit short
looks nice though, curious where you'll take this :)

Dreamy Kid

03 March 2007, 02:20 PM

thanks for the charcoal tips and enjoy the cintiq beck, i've been always wanting to bring a cintiq to a life drawing session...haha that must be awesome:thumbsup:

Elliepower

03 March 2007, 02:49 PM

Hi Rebecca,

when I saw your elephant, I thought about this guy and his work... Christo. He enveloped big buildings with drapery, like the german Reichtstag in Berlin.

http://www.haraldhamster.de/reichstagkompl.JPG

*lol*

Great work, btw!

Ciao
Ellie

anandpg

03 March 2007, 06:46 AM

Hi Rebecca! the elephant is awesome! congrats on getting the cintiq! ... and dont listen to Magdalena... Maya rocks!:buttrock:

Gunilla

03 March 2007, 07:36 AM

Ha! I haven't been around here for a while and weee!! It's great to see you taking on modeling in 3d. :thumbsup:
Like the elephant as well (good thing you mentioned what it was), especially the Prismacolor one. Mucho cool.
A Cintiq, huh? Has anyone warned you about getting to spoiled? :D

... just keep going like this, Beckiebot.

michael-olszak

03 March 2007, 09:10 AM

Cool, the elephant will turn out great. i really love your drawing style. Awesome work :)

Djampa

04 April 2007, 01:28 AM

Hehe, thanks you guys. :)

An update on the elephant / side view - you guys are probably going to hate me, but I now have a 21" Cintiq at work :D:

Not even getting a 21" Cintiq one can hate you *lol* :D
BTW - Congratulations ! Cintiq is a lovely tool, a dream tool actually, I'm still happy with my Ituos 3 *lol*, Cintiq ? mmmm one day... :scream:

Great to see you're doing some 3D now ! Can't wait to see what's going to come out here :)

Keep it up !

AztcFireFlower

04 April 2007, 03:48 AM

Hey Rebecca,

Haven't cruised by in awhile and had to stop and say, what a great start in 3D. Z-Brush? Mudbox?
As everyone has said, your IMMENSE knowledge of anatomy is already jumping your work ahead. It's just a matter of learning the new media. Will keep checking in to see how your 3D figure is developing. I'm most interested in seeing how you progress. Great job to begin wth.

The elephant is turning out well. Wish I could say more, but that's all I've got.

maritok

04 April 2007, 09:53 PM

I love your self-portrait sketches. I really like the boldness, the texture and forms of the front view of the elephant. The side-view of the elephant hasn't convinced me yet though -- love to see where you take it :) .

Ego

04 April 2007, 04:39 AM

Howdy, Rebecca3D. I always suspected your latent super secret 3Dishness when you whipped out Maya and modelled some columns for me during my failed Last man standing attempt. :D This is a good thing...to be multi skilled. Keep up the training. I'll be stopping by more often to see how its going. Cheers chick :thumbsup:

Womball

04 April 2007, 05:10 AM

New RyanKingsAlien video I thought you might find interesting. Shows the rake tool of zbrush 3.

HEY, I just checked a book out of the library...now I know where you are coming from with those dark paintings of yours..:)
Jan Ake Pettersson
.....ODD NERDRUM ...
Storyteller and Self - Revealer

FANTASTIC BOOK, and ARTIST

I never heard of him, until I saw his name mentioned by you a couple of times awhile back and have never seen any of his work....I was just browsing in the library yesterday, and saw that name, pulled the book out to have a look,..All I can say is WOW..:eek: :thumbsup:
Now I have a new MASTER ARTIST to study and learn from ...:bounce:
Goes to show you, that you just never know where things will lead you to...:)

REALLY REALLY LIKE HIS BRUSHWORK....THANKS FOR MENTIONING HIS NAME Rebecca...I have a feeling that i'm going to be learning a whole lot from him I think...:)
TAKE CARE
Glenn

anandpg

05 May 2007, 05:44 PM

Woman, where are you? where are the updates??:sad:

Mal-1

05 May 2007, 08:21 AM

I am guessing Rebecca had her hands full putting together the article that is in this months ImagineFX magazine....great work there Rebecca!! :thumbsup:

rasmusW

05 May 2007, 10:17 AM

hehehe.. yeah! just saw that one yesterday (really haven't got to read anything of it yet).
looking forward to your article, rebecca. it looks mighty fine.

ohh! btw. nice to get a face on all the encouriging words and amazing drawings...

-r

plunq

05 May 2007, 04:23 PM

Hey Rebecca, just wanted to drop by your thread and say hi. I really enjoyed seeing all your self portraits. Did you post them in order? If so than it's interesting to see the progression from a more completed drawing to more loose sketches. I think I like the loose drawings better, it still gives the viewer all the same information as the more polished ones but has more life to them.

Are you still modelling? The Freedom of Teach DVD is fantastic for box modelling organic models. You should also check out the Hyper-Realistic modelling DVD (I think there are a few out now) by Jeff Unay, and Digital Sculpting: Human Anatomy by Zack Petroc. Both have different approachs to Tareq's DVD but are equally as viable. I always find it interesting to see how some of the top modellers go about making their models... each person has a different approach but reaches the same fantastic end result.

Anyway, looking forward to some updates and new art!

Samanthie

06 June 2007, 07:29 PM

Hi Rebecca, I hope you won't be so busy working that you don't get to post your work here when you can!:) Thanks for your wonderful comment to my guestbook! Your great fabric work on the Ingres helped to inspire me when I painted the dress.

Zapan

06 June 2007, 09:07 PM

Hi Rebecca, I hope you won't be so busy working that you don't get to post your work here when you can!:)

mmh ... the lady's right ... Ok I'm not the best one to make some snail teasing comments , but in my case it's pretty much like an habit ...
Hope everything's ok with you in the west ... can't wait to see more of your work here :)

*hugs*

cheers ,

-Stéph

Rebeccak

06 June 2007, 01:37 AM

Argh, I have been horrible about replying here...I've recently moved to Los Angeles, California to start teaching and have just been caught up with all the details of the move etc. A big hug and thank you to everyone who has posted such nice comments here. :)

For those of you in the Los Angeles area, it would be great to meet up! I'm organizing a very informal Drawing Group at the LA Zoo for Sunday, July 1 at 11:00 am.

The plan generally is to wait til around 11:30 for folks to arrive, I'm happy to wait while others wander about to sketch. If anyone is up for food / drinks afterward, that's fine too, though I'm not sure what's around that area - I'll look into it.

Hope some of you can make it out! :)

nelchee

06 June 2007, 02:00 AM

hehe really great imagination, the deformed elephant looks most interesting.

I envy your future students, you're a great teacher :D

Womball

06 June 2007, 02:10 AM

Argh, I have been horrible about replying here...I've recently moved to Los Angeles, California to start teaching and have just been caught up with all the details of the move etc. A big hug and thank you to everyone who has posted such nice comments here. :)

For those of you in the Los Angeles area, it would be great to meet up! I'm organizing a very informal Drawing Group at the LA Zoo for Sunday, July 1 at 11:00 am.

The plan generally is to wait til around 11:30 for folks to arrive, I'm happy to wait while others wander about to sketch. If anyone is up for food / drinks afterward, that's fine too, though I'm not sure what's around that area - I'll look into it.

Hope some of you can make it out! :)

Grrr! Another Cali event I will have to miss out on, since its quite a distance from the East coast you know. ;-) I would have loved to have gone to Zbrush's event awhile back too.

Rebeccak

06 June 2007, 04:32 AM

Thanks nelchee, that's really sweet! :)

Womball, heh, well if you come out for SIGGRAPH, I'll see you there. :)

I have posted up my partial teaching schedule for the Summer and Fall of 2007 here, under "Teaching in Los Angeles":

http://www.rebeccakimmel.com/gallery/about.php

++

At Otis College of Art and Design (http://www.otis.edu/index.php?id=738), I will be teaching 2 Digital Painting coures through their Continuing Education program. Stay tuned for details.

++

At Irvine Valley College, I will be teaching the following course: (http://www1.socccd.cc.ca.us/SmartSchedule/ClassFind.asp?siteID=C&termID=20073&termtype=&mktcode=AR05&header=Art+%28Drawing%29)

From June 25 - August 31, 2007, I am teaching kids and teens, and adults at this location:

Mahanaim Art:
13241 South Street, Cerritos, CA 90703

Tel: 562-865-4170

Fine Art for kids-teens: Tuesday, 1:00 - 5:00 pm

Private tutoring for kids: Tuesday, 9:00am - 11:00 am

Drawing for kids-teens: Thursday, 1:00 - 5:00 pm

Figure Drawing for teens / adults: Saturday, 1:00 - 4:00 pm

$200 July - August 2007

Refer your young friends! :)

Rist

06 June 2007, 09:06 AM

*Dreams of a future where he stands on the path in LA gazing at the Hollywood sign, pondering of the days in England drooling over others lives*

Hope you have a great time over there! :wip:

CyborgJA

06 June 2007, 09:42 AM

Have you ever thought to spend your holidays in Italy?

(Of course teaching to adults while you are swimming in the sea >_>)

Playinsincepong

07 July 2007, 06:09 AM

Rebecca,

I know I'm just a couple of days old to the forum but I just had to tell you how inspiring your drawings are you have really sparked a flame in me to break out those Hale and Bridgman books once again. Thankyou Thank you Thank you,

Playinsincepong(Jeff)

NR43

07 July 2007, 10:56 AM

Hey Rebecca how did that drawing session at the LA zoo go the other day?
Will you show us some sketches perhaps? Would be great :)

sdyer23

07 July 2007, 11:58 AM

Rebecca,

Looks like a busy summer is ahead of you. I hope you get a good turn out to your classes. Good luck to you!

Djampa

08 August 2007, 11:29 PM

Hi Rebecca,

Hopping you are well ! ;)

This is my post number 1000 ! and it's for you :)
A simple homage.

I'm doing a lot of nice business but I keep my studies and sketches, you will always be one of my greatest inspirations.

I keep in touch and sharing the studies whenever possible :)

Best wishes,

Rebeccak

08 August 2007, 04:30 PM

Hey guys,

I have to apologize for my serious lack of activity - I do check the forums everyday (actually, pretty frequently) :) but have been so busy with teaching / post - grad school life (which is a good thing) that I haven't had that much time to post. I appreciate everyone's comments here! You guys are a huge source of inspiration for me. I get up every morning and am excited to see what new work has been posted. :)

Fl3wk, thank you, feel free to come visit LA! It's a crazy place, but full of great artists and artistic inspiration.

CyborgJA, Italy is fantastic! I have only had the pleasure of visiting twice, once to Rome, and once to Florence, but sadly that was a long time ago :( - it's just an overwhelmingly beautiful place, I really envy you!

Playinsincepong, thanks so much! It's always great to have new people on the forum, it's what keeps this place going! :)

NR43, I don't think those sketches were really worth showing, but I'll try to have some demo stuff up soon. :) Great to see your activity around here!

TuxedoPengu, thanks for the well wishes!

Djampa, thanks, that's really sweet of you! Hope to see you around more often too. :)

Well, I'm excited because the information about the courses I will be teaching at the Otis College of Art in Los Angeles are now online:

I find it amazing how solid your understanding of a classical approach to defining human forms has become, actually.

The pathway of forms which Ryder describes is something which I basically just know is important - and for me it's a very abstract concept of which I can only know scarcely how to apply it. But when I see your drawings I just see it in action.

That is always quite a sight, ma'am.

SpiritDreamer

09 September 2007, 10:25 PM

Hi ...Rebecca ...:)

POWERFUL STYLE, and DRAFTSMANSHIP :thumbsup: ...TEACHER...:applause:
HOPE THAT ALL IS WELL WITH YOU, AND YOURS..:)
SO, ....HOW DO YOU LIKE MY OLD STOMPING GROUNDS ANYWAY.
I GUESS THAT NOW I WILL HAVE TO START CALLING YOU A ..VALLEY GIRL :scream:
TAKE CARE
Glenn

Samanthie

09 September 2007, 11:14 PM

Hi there Rebecca!:) It's great to see an update from you, hope you are having lots of fun!

anandpg

09 September 2007, 05:21 AM

Hey Rebecca!! Great to see you in action again!!:bounce:

CyborgJA

09 September 2007, 11:09 AM

Your torsos are ALWAYS incredible! :drool:

krispee

09 September 2007, 11:25 AM

Hi Rebecca

sorry i haven`t posted in such a long while, will get back to it soon, i promise.....like your new work, not sure about the deformed elephant lol but your SP`s are lovely.....

kris

raylistic

10 October 2007, 09:41 AM

nice works!! which medium is the latest piece done in? pencil first then charcoal or?

sketchbook

10 October 2007, 03:47 PM

I like the subtle variation you achieved in darkest areas of the shadowing. Especially around the hip and along the thigh. great work!

Ego

10 October 2007, 04:26 PM

hey lady..nice update. You don't have time to post? Maybe I'll catch up to your post count :p

My workshop in France is going really great. I don't really have internet connection in my apartment, so getting on line is a little bit of a hassle. But just wanted to say booo. Say hi to the other folks in channel :D

Rebeccak

10 October 2007, 08:23 AM

Mu, thanks for that, I'm finding teaching to be improving my understanding of my drawing process at a very satisfying rate so far. I hope I can continue learning, God knows there's tons to know. Thanks for your always encouraging words. :)

I'm really enjoying my first college teaching experience, and am glad to be repeating the course in the Spring. :)

Cheers,

-R

NR43

10 October 2007, 10:07 AM

Hi Rebecca

Great to hear your teaching is fulfilling your expectations. I think - and most likely every regular around here will confirm that - you were made for it.

Those are really nice drawings btw...
keep us posted!

vaaken

10 October 2007, 10:14 AM

Wish I could attend your classes. If anyone can pay my plane ticket that is. Love the style of your life drawings. Looks so effortless and rythmic. You're a true artist. =)

Mu

10 October 2007, 10:16 AM

attached is the region the tonal range accuracy and stroke boldness of which is driving me insane as we speak...:argh:

abbeytermeer

10 October 2007, 02:01 AM

rebecca, this makes my jaw. drop. i LOVE the way you shade the shadow with the secondary light source, its so smooth and shows SO MUCH DEPTH. great eye for form, these are amazing. i would take your class in a heartbeat i wish i lived in that area ;;

anandpg

10 October 2007, 04:33 AM

AWESOME!!! more!... more..!!:bounce:

krispee

10 October 2007, 08:03 AM

nice update, your work so reminds me of Burne Hogarth, love that guy!

anyway, all the best with your teaching work, you seem to be really taking to it, of course your talent for it is without question.....
;)

kris

Frejasphere

10 October 2007, 09:47 AM

Lovely updates Rebecca :)
and so great to hear that the teaching is going well for you
I second others; that it would be great to see you draw and to go to
your classes... it's the oceans between thing ;)

Still, having the opportunity to pop in here and see what you are up to
and have your presence here, is great :)

Keep enjoying and stay well
cheers
a. :)

Rebeccak

10 October 2007, 03:15 AM

NR43, thank you!

vaaken, thank you. :)

Mu, hehe, that's really sweet!

Auria, thanks a lot for the boost of confidence. :)

anandpg, haha thanks 3D master dude. :)

krispee, thanks a lot, great to see you here!

Frejasphere, thanks a lot! Glad to see you back as well!

Well I haven't done anything digitally in quite a while. Just did a quick 45 min-1hr. sketch for the heck of it. From Sarah Simblet's photographic reference book:

A real pleasure seeing these latest works of yours...I like them all..:)
TOP ONE IS MY FAVORITE,Frame # 731..Great drawing technique ...I also really like the motion and action element in it..topped off of course by that great anatomy knowlage showing/shining through..
Really like the twist in the figure, in the next to last one also on the preceeding page ..
A very lucky bunch of students you have, I think... :)

KEEP INSPIRED, AND YOU WILL ALWAYS BE INSPIRING...Rebecca...:thumbsup:

LOL...I see that you have just posted a bunch more, while I was typing this, so now I will have more pleasure, and also more to write...:scream:

Really like the guy with the stick in his hands....Nice up angle on that figure:thumbsup: ...Always a hard angle to do, for me anyways..:)

GREAT TO SEE YOU POSTING AGAIN ...Rebecca :bounce:
Have to quite typing for now, my lower back has been killing me for two days now..making it hard to sit in front of the computer for too long...old injuries never die, they just keep coming back to haunt you.. ..oh well ..such is life..:)
TAKE CARE
Glenn

krispee

10 October 2007, 08:41 AM

great sense of movement about your gestural drawings, Rebecca, and all round some great charcoal works....
excellent....

kris

razz

10 October 2007, 08:47 AM

Wheee, updated! Aah, I'm astonished by these drawings Rebecca. Don't expect any crits. I'll have them for my inspiration :) Love the man with a stick and those more shaded drawing, but the fast gestures look great by themselves, they do capture the essence.
I guess teaching is going well, mm? And how great it must be to be taking classes with Vilppu!
Do show more! Full of inspiration!

Mu

10 October 2007, 11:03 AM

killuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrupdateeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaarfgh!

:surprised:

back with less braindead comments after convalescence from awe-inducing info...:argh:

batte812

10 October 2007, 02:47 PM

Great updates Rebecca, especially the shading demo and the last gestural drawings!

Icey

10 October 2007, 03:29 PM

Great to see the gestures ! A lot of power in few lines. These are showing what a gesture should be! Saved them all and i'll use them as inspiration :)

Cheers!

anandpg

10 October 2007, 04:52 PM

Yes! yes!!... :bounce: This is what I've been missing!!

CyborgJA

10 October 2007, 09:38 AM

:drool:

It's incredible the way you manage volumes.

re :drool:

se7en-z3r0

10 October 2007, 04:44 PM

Rebecca! These drawing are absolutely stunning. I am so in love with you charcoal and pencil work. Great work.

xoxo
shay

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